William Shatner & His Daughter Were Diagnosed With Cancer At The Same Time: 'Bonded By All Kinds Of Difficulties'

Legendary actor William Shatner is best known for playing Captain Kirk in the "Star Trek" franchise, and he's one of those long-lived Hollywood actors still working after their 90th birthday. While his character has saved lives across the galaxy, here on Earth, William has faced his share of health issues, including a stage 4 malignant melanoma diagnosis in 2023. It came not long after his daughter Melanie Shatner Gretsch was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes. Their shared battle brought them even closer together. "We're bonded by all kinds of difficulties that we've overcome," William told People. They're both now in good health and cancer-free.

Melanie is one of three daughters that William had with Gloria Rand, the first of Shatner's four ex-wives. As Melanie underwent cancer treatment, William really helped her through it. She told People about the time she'd called her dad in the middle of the night in the midst of chemotherapy. He came over right away, and Melanie revealed what happened next: "he gave me, what I think of ever since I was a little girl, a 'daddy bear hug,' He said, 'This is going to be a blip in your life. You're going to get through this, and it'll be a memory.'" Thankfully, he was right.

William's melanoma diagnosis came in June 2023; it had spread to his brain and lungs. When Melanie found out about her father's cancer, she wasn't sure she could handle it if he didn't make it through. "I remember vividly thinking, 'I don't have the strength to take care of myself and lose my father at the same time,'" she explained to People. 

Both Melanie Shatner Gretsch and William Shatner had their cancers discovered with a second opinion. For Melanie, she'd found a lump in her breast and one ultrasound came back clear. But as she told "CBS Mornings" during a joint appearance with her dad, "Something just said you need to check again." If it hadn't been caught, Melanie confirmed she "would have died because it was a super aggressive kind of cancer." Her treatment involved chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, and a double mastectomy. Melanie said that after she got her first clear PET scan, she called her dad. "It was the third time I heard you cry in my whole life," she recounted to him. It sounds like for William, those were tears of joy and relief.

In William's case, he had a lump in his neck near his jaw, which a doctor at first thought was simply a swollen salivary gland. But as it grew bigger, another doctor told William that he'd need to get the lump removed, which is when it was discovered that the cancer had spread. It took two years of treatment and surgery before William was cancer-free.

The father-daughter duo helped support each other through the challenging cancer treatments and have now turned that teamwork into a podcast called "No Time But Now." It builds on the lessons they learned from their cancer battles, and along with sharing their own stories, they bring in experts of all kinds with discussions on disease, longevity, and wellness.